Captain Nazi

Superherobox|

caption=Captain Nazi (center) makes his debut on the cover of "Master Comics" #21 (1941), flanked by his enemies Captain Marvel (left) and Bulletman. Art by Mac Rayboy.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Captain Nazi
real_name=Albrecht Krieger
publisher=Fawcett Comics (1941 - 1944)
DC Comics (1978 - present)
debut="Master Comics"#21 (1941, historical)
"The Power of Shazam!" #5 (1995, canon)
creators=William Woolfolk
Mac Raboy
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances=The Society
Monster Society of Evil
The Fourth Reich
aliases=
powers=Superhuman strength, speed and stamina, flight, enhanced senses|

Captain Nazi is a Fawcett Comics and DC Comics supervillain, a rival of Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. He was created by William Woolfolk and Mac Raboy.Citation | last = Greenberger | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Greenberger| contribution = Captain Nazi | editor-last = Dougall | editor-first = Alastair | title = The DC Comics Encyclopedia | pages = 72 | publisher = Dorling Kindersley | place = New York | year = 2008 | ISBN = 0-7566-4119-5 | oclc = 213309017]

Fictional character history

Fawcett Comics

The super-strong Captain Nazi was genetically altered by his scientist father, and developed into the "perfect specimen" in order to fight for Adolf Hitler and the Axis Powers during World War II. Nazi first appeared in "Master Comics" #21 (December 1941), in opposition to both Captain Marvel and Bulletman. During the second half of his battle with Marvel in "Whiz Comics" #25 (published the same month), Nazi attacks two innocent bystanders who happened to be fishing near the scene of the battle. One of them, an old man named Jacob Freeman, is killed, but the old man's teenage grandson, Freddy Freeman, is saved by Captain Marvel and becomes Captain Marvel, Jr.

Junior, crippled in his Freddy Freeman form by the attack, continued to hold a vendetta against Nazi, and the two frequently battled one another. Nazi also served as a member of Mister Mind's Monster Society of Evil during the WWII years, before making his final Fawcett Comics appearance in "Captain Marvel, Jr." #14 in 1944.

DC Comics

characters under the title "Shazam!", save for reprints of the original Fawcett stories. Nazi's first appearance in a new DC Comics story was in "Shazam!" #34 (March- April 1978).

Captain Nazi was introduced into the modern DC Universe in Jerry Ordway's "The Power of Shazam!" series in 1995. In the modern series, Nazi had been active during the 1940s, battling WWII-era heroes such as Bulletman, Minute-Man, and Spy Smasher, but placed himself in suspended animation so that he could emerge in modern society and revive the Third Reich. Nazi's brother, scientist Wolf Krieger, and his granddaughter, a superpowered villainess named Madame Libertine who possessed mind-controlling powers, carried on Nazi's legacy in the 1990s and resurrected their hero from his suspended animation chamber in "Power of Shazam!" #5.

Issues #6–8 of the "Power of Shazam" series retell the story of Nazi's murder of Freddy's grandfather, his crippling of Freddy, and Freddy's emergence as Marvel, Jr. and attempted revenge on Nazi. After the Marvel Family captures and defeats Nazi, he is sent to Europe to be tried for war crimes committed during World War II.

Captain Nazi eventually joined Lex Luthor's new Secret Society of Super Villains as seen in the miniseries "Villains United," where he was working with them to torture the Secret Six. He was then blinded during the escape of the Secret Six when Catman plunged syringes into his eyes.

Captain Nazi met his apparent end in "Batman" #647 while fighting Batman and The Red Hood. The Captain and two other Society members had been lent out to the villain Black Mask to aid his attempt to assassinate The Red Hood. During the fight, The Red Hood apparently killed Captain Nazi by jamming a taser-like weapon into his cybernetic eyes (the only vulnerable part of his body). However, in "Villains United Special" #1, it was revealed that Nazi had survived. At the behest of the Society, Nazi appeared in Khandaq to release all of the captives in its prisons and fought Khandaq's ruler and former Secret Society member, Black Adam. During the battle, Black Adam confronted Nazi about how he seemingly survived being killed, at which time Captain Nazi cryptically proclaimed that previous origins about him were wrong and that the villain wasn't even human; that he was the living avatar of National Socialism given physical form and that so long as there are Nazis in existence, he would exist. Despite this revelation, Black Adam easily defeated Captain Nazi.

He has since appeared as leader of a Nazi-themed team in Justice Society of America named "The Fourth Reich" after the "One Year Later" jump, and is an opponent of Wonder Woman in 'The Circle', sporting a generic black costume.

Other media

In an episode of "Justice League Unlimited," Captain Nazi made a round-about appearance. During a flashback sequence, a character who looks very similar to Captain Nazi is prevented from taking a super-soldier serum by Fawcett Comics hero Spy Smasher. It is later revealed that the serum was created for "Project Captain Nazi." General Wade Eiling broke into Cadmus Labs and injected himself with the mutated serum. He then went on a rampage against the Justice League. The idea of a super-soldier serum in a WWII-era setting is very similar to the premise of Captain America.

External links

* [http://www.marvelfamily.com/comics/cast/getapp.asp?castID=19 Captain Nazi's "Who's Who" file] at The Marvel Family Web.

References